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Monday, October 14, 2013

Healthy 'Everything' Cookies

Last year, as part of a Christmas gift from my cousin Samantha, she gave me a mason jar filled with all of the dry ingredients for these cookies, as well as the recipe to make them.

Beautiful!

I am always amazed by how good at beautiful, creative, crafty things some people can be. And this person in particular is actually a member of my family! The creative gene must have skipped me, along with the thick hair and blue eyes genes. Sigh.

But, I lost the recipe, and then had to ask my cousin for it about 47 times because I kept misplacing it again and again. Now I am taking advantage of the recipe being in front of my face and finally making a blog post so that I can forever know where it is. Which, OMG, happens to be the exact reason that I started this blog in the first place! Winning! But back to the cookies...

Here's your lineup.

I've made these cookies at least half a dozen times, because they are just so, so yummy. I like how there is no flour or added sugar in the recipe, which makes me feel like they are in some way healthy. Instead of eggs or sugar or butter, bananas are used to add moisture and sweetness.

Save these for banana bread instead.

I've tried the recipe with both fresh bananas, and with the black, scary, bananas at the back of my freezer, and definitely fresh is the way to go. A potato masher will get those fresh bananas just as mushy as if you had used the over-ripe freezer bananas, without the strong taste. Save those black bananas for banana bread.

Let's discuss the elephant in the room - dried fruit is disgusting, yes? Yes. But for some reason, in these cookies the dried cranberries, apricots, cherries, or whatever combination of dried fruit that you decide to use, just totally makesthe cookies. Some things in life just cannot be explained.

Look at all the good stuff in these cookies! Including the dried fruit!

I like to pop one of these cookies into my lunch bag for a mid-morning or late afternoon snack instead of a packaged granola bar. At about 150 calories each, they pack 4 grams of protein, 10 grams of iron, and 4 grams of fibre into each cookie. Plus they are delicious!

1 cup dried fruit (I usually use an assortment of dried cranberries, apricots, and cherries)

1 cup rolled oats (I used Bob's Red Mill wheat-free rolled oats)

3/4 cup coconut flakes (I used the Let's Do...Organic brand)

1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

1/4 cup almond meal (see note below)

1/4 cup almond slices

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Dash cinnamon

Dash all-spice

Note on how to make your own almond meal: You can buy almond meal in the natural foods aisle, but it's also really easy to make it yourself. Simply put almonds into a food processor and pulse until the almonds are powdery. For this recipe, you can use the almond meal this way, or you can use a fine mesh strainer to strain out the larger bits of almond and leave yourself with just the fine powdery stuff.Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl, place peeled bananas, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Using a potato masher, mash contents of the bowl together until very mushy (there will still be lumps).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using your hands, form small balls of cookie dough, place onto the baking sheet, and press down gently to flatten the dough.

Place into the oven, and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies begin to brown. Remove cookies from oven, allow to cool slightly on the baking sheet, then place the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Recipe Source: My cuz Samantha.

And here they are again when I recreated the cookie mix in a jar for Christmas gifts in 2015

Well, this recipe looks extremely healthy and I am definitely going to try these cookies. My kids are crazy about chocolate cookies, but dried apricots and pumpkin seeds are something that I have not yet tried as toppings or as garnishing …. I am going to try making few initially just to understand their reaction! http://livingfoodz.com

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I Just Can't Keep My Mouth Shut...

Hi, I'm Megan, and I love to cook and eat (and, ok, drink wine and beer, and watch bad reality TV, and hang out with The Hubby, and family, and friends). On this food blog you will find a balance of comfort food, healthy meals, and tasty snacks. Thanks for reading, and have a great day! Megan